Beyond Organic Local Farm Products

We are selling our Nigerian Dwarf buck Champ. Champ has a great personality, and is easy to handle. He’ll go anywhere for a bucket of feed.

Champ’s healthy, and has had no ailments. I have test results showing he’s negative for CAE/CL/Johnes. We’ve taken good care of him with routine health checks, hoof trimming, etc. and I can provide you a record of his health checks over the past two years. He is ADGA registered, and I can give you his registration # to see his pedigree. DOB 3/20/2013.

Champ has successfully sired many kids during his time with us. He makes some pretty cute kids! The kid pictured above is one of Champ’s offspring.

If you are serious about your goat herd, Champ is a high quality, healthy animal that will be a joy to work with.

Please contact us with any questions, and when you’d like to see/purchase Champ.

Mark your calendars and reserve your spot for the Raising Rabbits class! You’ll want to attend if you are considering raising meat rabbits or would like to gain insight to improve your existing rabbitry.

In the class we’ll cover health care, feeding, housing, breeding, and have a dispatching and processing session!

We have two special offers for class attendees: 50% off their purchase of rabbit meat in the farm store immediately following the class, and 20% off the rabbit tractors listed below!

The class is next Saturday, July 29th, 9am-12pm. The cost is $20/person or $40/family. Contact us now to reserve your spot in the class.

Rabbit Tractors For Sale

2 Rabbit or chicken tractor pens for sale. These are currently configured to be stationary rabbit housing elevated off the ground with cinder blocks or something similar. By simply cutting some zip ties to removed the hardware cloth along the bottom, you can use these as portable pens (“tractors”) to graze the rabbits on pasture.

Feeders are attached to tractors and included. Dimensions are 3′ wide, 5′ long, 2′ high. Bottom and sides have 2×4″ horse fencing, plus 1/2″ hardware cloth on the bottom, and either 1″ or 2″ chicken wire on the sides.

These are setup so that rabbits will stay off their droppings (either by being elevated or if on grass, being moved daily), which is key for rabbit health.

Tractors were carefully designed to be easy to use, lightweight, but sturdy. They keep rabbits in and predators out!

Tractors are $100 each. Special offer of 20% off for anyone who attends the rabbits class next Saturday! Contact us to purchase the rabbit tractors.

We are now taking hog share reservations for our next round of pigs going to the processor! For full details and to reserve your share now, visit our updated hog share page now . Highlights for this round of processing are:

Whole Shares $4/Lb, Half Shares $4.50/Lb, (plus processing fees)

Pork Available in October (Exact date depends on when processor has it ready)

Supply is Limited: 4 Pigs Total Available

More details are on our hog share page, included an updated table that shows the expected cost (and savings!) of the half and whole shares, depending on your meat processing selections.

To reserve your share, fill out the reservation form on the hog share page.

THIS SATURDAY we are again offering our popular Goats 101 class! This time you’re getting 2-for-1 classes as we’ll add an extra hour and cover fencing in greater detail. This class will be a wealth of information for anyone looking to have goats or fence in any livestock.

This class is family friendly, with opportunities to brush the goats, and get a squirt or two of milk out of the does, too!

For the goat portion of the class, we’ll focus on goats as pets, dairy, land clearing, and proper fencing. The class will cover handling goats, goat health check, trimming hooves, basic goat care, milking, and fencing.
We will share the materials we’ve developed such as a goat health checklist, goat care calendar, and a list of suppliers.

The fencing portion will cover setting up both electric and field fencing. We’ll discuss the benefits and drawbacks of different fencing options to help you make informed decisions.

The class is Saturday, July 8th 9am-12pm. The cost is $20/person or $40/family. Contact us now to reserve your spot in the class.

Farm Store Open Saturday, July 1st, 12-4pm

This Saturday enjoy a beautiful summer day with a visit to the farm! This Weekend’s Special is Buy 2 Rabbits, Get 1 Free*. Curious how to cook a rabbit? There are several great recipes here!

Stock up on meat to grill for 4th of July! We have great grilling options including ham steaks, pork chops, and link sausage.

In the farm store we’ll be fully stocked with all of our Whispering Willow soaps and bath products, including hand soaps and body wash. We will also have pork, rabbit meat, chicken and duck eggs, beeswax candles, handmade magnets, coasters, and more!

Address and directions are on our website here. We are open the first Saturday of every month. We look forward to seeing you soon!

*Sale terms: Buy two rabbits at regular retail price, and get a third rabbit of equal or lesser value for free.

Goats 101 & Fencing COMBO Class Saturday July 8th, 9am-12pm!

This month we are again offering our popular Goats 101 class! This time you’re getting 2-for-1 classes as we’ll add an extra hour and cover fencing in greater detail. This class will be a wealth of information for anyone looking to have goats or fence in any livestock.

This class is family friendly, with opportunities to brush the goats, and get a squirt or two of milk out of the does, too!

For the goat portion of the class, we’ll focus on goats as pets, dairy, land clearing, and proper fencing. The class will cover handling goats, goat health check, trimming hooves, basic goat care, milking, and fencing.
We will share the materials we’ve developed such as a goat health checklist, goat care calendar, and a list of suppliers.

The fencing portion will cover setting up both electric and field fencing. We’ll discuss the benefits and drawbacks of different fencing options to help you make informed decisions.

The class is Saturday, July 8th 9am-12pm. The cost is $20/person or $40/family. Contact us now to reserve your spot in the class.

Raising Meat Rabbits Class, Saturday July 29th at 10am!

Mark your calendars and reserve your spot for the Raising Rabbits class! You’ll want to attend if you are considering raising meat rabbits or would like to gain insight to improve your existing rabbitry.

In the class we’ll cover health care, feeding, housing, breeding, and have a dispatching and processing session!

The class is Saturday, July 29th, 10am-12pm. The cost is $20/person or $40/family. Contact us now to reserve your spot in the class.

We have some recently weaned rabbit litters for sale! Does and bucks are available as breeding stock. Details of the most recently weaned litters are below. Read our breeding stock page and fill out the breeding stock order form to get rabbits now!

Goat doeling for sale for $150! Clover was born 5/28/2017 to Bunny, sired by Champ (see parents here). Clover is a mini-Alpine (Alpine/Nigerian Dwarf), and is registerable. This was Bunny’s second kidding for us, and both times she kidded with no assistance. Clover was a twin, too, so hopefully she has genetics to twin. We hope Clover inherited her mom’s good kidding genes!

Clover nursed for the first few hours (dam is CAE negative) and has been bottle fed ever since. She’s very friendly and bonded to humans.

Clover will make a great dairy doe for someone’s dairy. Contact us now to buy her!

Last month we did a rabbit trade and acquired a new, unrelated buck for our rabbitry. Everyone please welcome Miles Davis, Jr!

Miles Davis Jr

He comes to us from Kentucky, and we love that he’s a big guy weighing in at over 10lbs! No kits sired by him have been born yet, but we are excited to see how they grow. Miles will also allow us to continue providing breeding stock to our repeat customers who are interested in new bloodlines.

The acquisition of Miles Davis, Jr. is just one of several updates we’ve done to our rabbitry stock. Visit the Our Rabbits page to see all of our current breeders.

We have several young litters that will be available as breeding stock over the summer. Visit our breeding stock page and fill out an order form if you’d like to get rabbits today!

As a lovely spring week comes to a close, we are thankful for all the good things that have happened.

Ripening Peaches

This week we harvested our first peaches of the season! Many more are ripening on the trees. It’s been years of watering, pruning, and otherwise taking care of these trees as they grew and matured to the point where they’d fruit. We’re excited to have our first peach harvest.

Pigs Enjoying Fresh Ground

The pigs are in the goats’ winter pen now, and they’re enjoying the grass and weeds growing there! Their time in this pen serves a few purposes. Most obviously, it gives the pigs fresh ground to root around in, feeding them naturally. Their rooting and eating provides a side benefit of disrupting the life cycle of goat parasites, which lessens the parasite load in the pen. This allows us to reduce the frequency with which we must use chemical dewormers on our goats, too!

This week we received our latest order from Whispering Willow, our friends’ soap company in North Carolina. We are now fully stocked in all of the products we carry, including one new offering! We now offer a 64oz hand soap refill for $35 in all of the hand soap varieties: tea tree, peppermint, lemongrass, and lavender. These are perfect for refilling the beautiful Whispering Willow glass hand pumps, or to refill your own decorative hand soap pump! You can see all of our Whispering Willow offerings on our soaps and bath products page.

Those of you on our delivery route, email me now if you’d like to add anything to your next order! Not on our delivery route? If you live in the town of Leesburg, we deliver every other Tuesday evening. The next delivery is this Tuesday the 13th. If you live in the towns of Purcellville or Round Hill, we deliver every Friday morning. We can deliver all of the products listed on the How To Buy page. You email me your order, I reply with an invoice and a time, and then I deliver your order!

Farm Store Open Saturday, June 3rd, 12-4pm

This Saturday enjoy the good weather with a visit to the farm! We have two goat kids to pet! This weekend’s special is 10% off rabbit meat purchases. Curious how to cook a rabbit? There are several great recipes here!

Address and directions are on our website here. We are open the first Saturday of every month. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Welcome to Our New Customers from the Loudoun Farm Tour!

We had such a great time meeting new and returning customers at the Loudoun Spring Farm Tour. Thanks to all of you who visited! For those new to our newsletter list, we will send out a newsletter once a month reminding you of our farm store hours, and letting you know about specials and events.

Visit the Goat Kids This Saturday

This Saturday during the farm store hours we will have two goat kids out front for petting and feeding. The kids were born here this past Sunday to our doe Bunny. They are doing great and love to make new friends! Come visit and pet the kids!

Visit Us During the Loudoun Farm Tour This Weekend May 20-21, 10am-4pm

We are looking forward to welcoming new and returning visitors during the Loudoun Spring Farm Tour May 20-21 from 10am-4pm.
The farm store will be stocked as always with rabbit meat, pork, eggs from our free range chickens and ducks, organic bath and beauty products, beeswax candles, and more! Stop by and load up on amazing local products for yourself and gifts.

Address and directions are on our website here. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Local, Delicious Meat for Sale on Farm Tour

Be sure to bring your cooler and ice packs as we will have delicious pork and rabbit available.

Pork is fully stocked! As a family farm, we only take pigs to the processor a few times a year, and the most popular cuts sell out quickly. This weekend we will be fully stocked will all of our delicious pork. We have pork chops, bacon, sausage, boston butt, ham, ham steaks, spare ribs, and more!

We are also stocked up with a lot of our delicious heritage rabbit meat for sale at $8/lb. Rabbits are whole, like a whole chicken, and typically weigh 2-4lbs. Rabbits are all white meat, and there are many wonderful preparations possible. I often baste it with olive oil and seasonings, then roast in the oven at 350 until the internal temperature is 160 degrees. If you’re more adventurous, feel free to try any of the recipes detailed here.

Saturday: Chicks for Sale

On Saturday Lauren from Boot’s Shire Homestead will be here with just hatched Buff Orpington and Easter Egger chicks for sale. Birds are straight run, and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Be sure you are prepared with chick supplies such as a brooder, heat lamps, chick feed, etc.
Prices are: Buff Orpington: $3/ea or 4/$10, Easter Egger: $4/ea or 3/$10.

Let us bring our farm fresh goodies to you! We now offer delivery to the towns of Leesburg, Purcellville, and Round Hill!

Leesburg delivery is every other Tuesday evening.

Purcellville and Round Hill delivery is every Friday morning.

There is a $20 minimum for delivery, and no additional delivery charge. We can bring you any of the items listed on our How to Buy page. If you live outside of town, we can coordinate meeting you at a location on our delivery route.

We JUST received a call from the processor that our latest batch of pork is ready! We’ll pick it up from the processor tomorrow morning, and it’ll be for sale during our farm store hours 12-4pm tomorrow. We are so excited to be fully stocked on pork once more! Come get your favorite cuts before they sell out (warning: the bacon won’t last long!).

To see a full list of what we have for sale in the farm store, checkout our how to buy page (just updated!).

Address and directions are on our website here. We are open the first Saturday of every month. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Visit During the Loudoun Farm Tour May 20-21

We are looking forward to welcoming new and returning visitors during the Loudoun Spring Farm TourMay 20-21 from 10am-4pm. One of our dairy goats is going to kid in mid-May, so there will be a goat kid to pet!
We will have delicious pork available, so be sure to bring your cooler and ice packs! We will have pork chops, bacon, sausage, boston butt, ham, ribs, and more!

The farm store will be stocked as always with delicious rabbit meat, eggs from our free range, non-GMO chickens and ducks, organic bath and beauty products, beeswax candles, and more! Stop by and load up on amazing local products for yourself and gifts.

When you visit farms on the farm tour and buy their products, you are making a huge impact on the local economy. A study found that “a dollar spent buying directly from a farmer has about twice the impact on the local economy as spending a dollar on food that goes through a middleman- a supermarket, for example.”

On Saturday the 20th, Lauren from Boot’s Shire Homestead will be here with just hatched Buff Orpington and Easter Egger chicks for sale. Birds are straight run, and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Be sure you are prepared with chick supplies such as a brooder, heat lamps, chick feed, etc. Prices are as follows:
Buff Orpington: $3/ea or 4/$10
Easter Egger: $4/ea or 3/$10

Goat Milk Herd Share

Our dairy goats kidded this spring, providing us with delicious goat milk, and we have a few spots available in our goat milk herd share.

Did you know that goat milk is a frequently consumed milk worldwide? Compared to cow milk, goat milk has many benefits including that it’s easier to digest and higher in calcium (source). Often those with cow milk allergies enjoy goat milk with no issues!

Oh my goodness the last few weeks have been BUSY! You may have been able to tell that based on the lack of blog posts. So much has happened: pigs taken to the processor, springtime work completed, but today I’m going to focus on the new life that’s joined the farm this week.

Piglets Born

On Sunday evening Rizzo the American Guinea Hog gave birth to 6 sturdy piglets. Sow and piglets are doing great. The piglets are nursing well, and Rizzo is an attentive mother. After a couple of days the piglets are exploring the world outside their house. Soon I expect them to be running around the pen!

Goat Kid Born

On Monday Sunflower kidded one buckling. This was Sunflower’s first kidding, and she did great. As soon as the kid was born, she was there cleaning him up and taking care of him.

The buckling is healthy and very friendly! After initially letting him drink colostrum from Sunflower, we’ve been bottle feeding him. He loves people, and has fun playing with Rebecca!

This buckling is available for purchase. He can be left intact, or wethered to be a pet. Price is $75. Contact us for details.

This Saturday we’ll be open from 12pm to 4pm. No need to schedule an appointment, just come on out and stock up on all our great farm fresh goodies! Be sure and check out all the special offerings this weekend like chicks, ducklings, and hog share signups!

Chicks and Ducklings

Chicks!

This Saturday, Lauren from Boot’s Shire Homestead will be here with just hatched Buff Orpington and Speckled Sussex chicks, as well as Khaki Campbell ducklings, for sale. Birds are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Prices are as follows:

Buff Orpington: $3/ea or 4/$10

Speckled Sussex: $4/ea or 3/$10

Khaki Campbell: $6/ea or 4/$20

The chicks and ducklings are straight run, meaning they will be male and female. Once the birds are a few months old you’ll be able to tell if you have any roosters or drakes. If you end up with any males that you can’t keep, you can bring them back to the farm.

Be sure you are prepared with chick supplies such as a brooder, heat lamps, chick feed, etc.

Hog Share Signup

Want to fill your freezer with a bunch of delicious pork at an incredible savings?

This month we have several pigs available as half or whole hog shares.

With a half or whole hog you get to request the exact pork cuts you want, and enjoy plenty locally raised delicious pork while getting your pork at a significantly reduced cost!

Shares are $4/lb hanging weight plus tax and processing fees. You’ll end up with around 75 lbs of pork for a half share and 150 lbs of pork for a whole share.

More details are available on our hog share page, or talk to us at the farm store hours for more details!

It’s spring! In typical springtime fashion, temperatures are about freezing this morning, but we should have a high of 64 today. As the weather warms up, our outdoor chore list is exploding. We have so many exciting things to do, and finally the weather is nice enough to do them! Here are the adventures from the last week:

New Hen Roosts

We needed more roosting space for our laying hens, so on Saturday afternoon we threw these together with scrap wood we had on hand.

Each roost is 4′ long and about 20″ wide. The doorway to our hen hoophouses is 24″ wide, so we made sure the roosts were narrow enough to fit through. One roost is 18″ high, the other 24″. Those heights were dictated by the lengths of the scrap wood, and both work just fine.

The frame pieces are 1x4s or 2x4s for strength. The roosts are 1x2s to make the roosts as light as possible. We rotate our hens and their houses a few times/year based on where we need them, so portability is nice.

Storm the goat was very interested in the new roosts when we moved them in the hen house!

Pink Pigs the Destroyers

The pink pigs are making it really easy to take them to the processor. This week they knocked over their barrel waterer, moved all of the cinder blocks it was sitting on, and crawled inside it. I don’t know how they moved those cinder blocks, which were pretty stuck in the mud. You can see in the photo how the barrel’s tied to that t-post. There were more strands of twine attaching it, which the pigs easily broke.

To fix the waterer, I replaced the cinder blocks, reset the barrel on them, and pounded in four more t-posts around the barrel. Well, first I pounded in two more t-posts, so there were 3 total. Before I could fill the barrel, the pigs had knocked it on its side again, but at least it was on top of the cinder blocks and not completely moved. I uprighted the barrel again, and added another two t-posts. I’m hoping that’s enough to keep it upright! The barrel has been filled, and it’s still standing about 18 hours later. Let’s hope it stays that way!

We are expecting our first major snowfall tonight, with 8-12″ forecast. I’m thankful we’ve made it until March before getting some major snow. I am also thankful our worst case scenario is 1 foot of snow, not 3 feet like we experienced January 2016.

We had a few preparations to make before the snowfall, one of which was to reinforce our rabbit hoophouse. The hoophouse is about 2 years old, and the weight of the rabbits and cages has caused some wear. (One of our projects this year is to build on to our rabbitry and move the cages from this hoophouse to the rabbitry, retiring the hoophouse completely).

Unfortunately I did not get a “before” photo, but the hoophouse was listing heavily to one side, and we worried it didn’t have the structural integrity to withstand the weight of snow. We needed to prop it up so that it had more of a proper arch, giving it strength.

We achieved this by pounding in t-posts to use as support, and using 2x4s and 1x4s to push the hoophouse back into an arch and hold it there. You can see the bracing setup in the photos above. A 1×4 was attached to the hoophouse with twine tied through the tarp to the cattle panels underneath. 2x4s where wedged between the 1×4 and the t-post, held in place at the 1×4 by screws. This bracing exerts enough pressure to hold the hoophouse in its original shape, giving it more structural integrity. We are confident it should now withstand the snowfall.

I hope all of our local friends are ready for the snowstorm. May your livestock be safe and your house be warm!

This week’s nice weather has brought out all the farm helpers pictures above: Noah, Ghost, and Rebecca!

This past Saturday was a busy one at the farm store. Many people came by to see Lauren of Boot’s Shire Homestead and the chicks she had for sale! Remember she’ll be back with chicks and ducklings on Saturday, April 1st and during the Loudoun Spring Farm Tour May 20-21. Plan on getting your laying hens or ducks then!

Since Saturday, this has been a quiet week where all the animals have stayed in their pens, and there’s been no chaos to speak of. It’s nice to have a week like this every now and then!

Remember last week’s post about the feeder pigs’ hoophouse destruction? Those pigs are going to the processor in April, so get your hog share order in now. There is limited availability and we expect to sell out!

Farm Store Open Saturday

The farm store will be open tomorrow, Saturday March 4th, from 12-4pm. Come by to scoop up fresh eggs, pork, soaps, and more! Chicks will be for sale, too. Address and directions are here.

Hog Shares

We are now accepting reservations for half and whole hog shares for our next round of pork. The pigs will go to the processor in mid-April, and the pork will be available around mid-May.

Hog shares offer you the opportunity to get our delicious pork at a discount by buying a large quantity of pork at once. Another benefit is that you get to order the exact cuts you want!

For more details, and to reserve a hog share, visit our hog share page.

Pink Pig Update

The pink pigs have been growing at a great rate, and we are excited for all of the pork they’ll produce! We are also excited to take them to the processor because they are destructive troublemakers! You can see in the below photos the damage they’ve caused to their hoophouse. Thankfully it still shelters them well enough!

Since it seems we’re going to enjoy above freezing temperatures from here on out, we setup 55 gallon barrel waterers in both our pig pens. This should make chores easier since we’ll fill these barrels once or twice a week instead of watering the pigs daily.

The farm store is open this Saturday from 12-4pm. If you’ve been wanting to stop by the farm and see the animals while stocking up on some goodies, this is the time to do it! No appointment needed, just come on by!

AGH Piglets

We have just 2 barrow American Guinea Hog piglets left for sale from our last litter. These guys are just over 8 weeks old and ready to go to your farm this Saturday! These are castrated males so will make great feeder hogs for people wanting to experiment with raising hogs in a low risk manner. They are just $75 each! Please plan on bringing a small animal crate to transport them this Saturday. Send us a message to reserve your piglets for this Saturday now!

Chicks!

This Saturday, Lauren from Boot’s Shire Homestead will be here with just hatched Buff Orpington chicks for sale. There are about 30 chicks total, and they are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Chicks are $3 each or 4/$10.

The chicks are straight run, meaning they will be male and female. Once the chicks are a few months old you’ll be able to tell if you have any roosters. If you end up with any roosters that you can’t keep you can bring them back to the farm.

Be sure you are prepared with chick supplies such as a brooder, heat lamps, chick feed, etc.